The war in Washington over the House-led impeachment investigation into President Trump came to Sandy Springs on Oct. 9 as protesters converged on U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath’s office for the second time in a week.
McBath voted last month to begin an impeachment inquiry into the president, making her a target of the Republican National Committee’s new “Stop the Madness” campaign. Local Democrats want to make sure the RNC knows McBath has support in the 6th Congressional District and organized their own rally as a counter-protest.
McBath bashed the RNC and the “Stop the Madness Atlanta” protest in a tweet for not knowing local geography.
“The national Trump campaign recruited people to protest today at my office. Two thoughts. 1. It’s Sandy Springs – not Atlanta. Welcome to #GA06. 2. I will do right by my district and my constituents – no matter what,” McBath tweeted.
The RNC campaign targets House Democrats by organizing local Trump supporters to protest at their offices. The Sandy Springs protest attracted the likes of Betty Price, former state House representative, and GOP would-be challenger Marjorie Greene. Democrats also rallied to show their support for McBath and the impeachment inquiry.
“I didn’t know [McBath] would be so partisan,” said Barbara Hartman of Johns Creek, wearing a large jeweled pin with the word “Trump” atop an American flag and waving a pink “Women for Trump” sign. “But if she’s for impeachment … she doesn’t have our country at heart.
The inquiry is based on a whistleblower’s allegation that, among other things, Trump urged Ukraine’s president in a phone call to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
“I’m tired of all this back-and-forth; it’s trivial,” Hartman said. “It’s just a phone call.”
Members of the Tea Party Patriots protested at the same site Oct. 2 in an event separate from the RNC-organized campaign.
On Oct. 9, dozens of Republican and Democrat activists faced off on separate street corners near the Novel Perimeter apartment complex on Glenridge Drive. Behind the apartments is the Lakeside Office Park where McBath’s 6th Congressional District office is located.
The scene on Glenridge Drive where Republicans gathered was rowdy. A man wearing a red “Veterans for Trump” T-shirt revved his motorcycle’s engine loudly. “Democrats suck!” shouted one young man.
Women for Trump National Advisory Board Member Julianne Thompson of Atlanta had to shout into a megaphone to be heard over the loud blare of the horn of a “Trump for President 2020” bus and chants of “four more years!” and even “eight more years!”
Thompson said, to loud boos, that House Democrats’ support of an impeachment investigation shows they are “siding with [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi and [New York U.S. Rep.] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the far-left radical socialists.”
One man led the group in an enthusiastic chant of “McBath and the Squad, four peas in a pod!”
Ocasio-Cortez and fellow first-year Democrat Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan are known as “the Squad.” The name was coined by Ocasio-Cortez.
The impeachment investigation is part of an effort to “undermine the will of the American people who elected Donald Trump as president of the United States,” Thompson shouted.
Betty Levine of Marietta attended the rally with her son, who declined to give his name, and Melissa Carpenter.
“He is being unfairly accused,” she said. “Trump is working with his heart. He deserves better than this. I don’t think we need to get rid of Trump. We need to applaud him.”
Betty Price, who lost her state House seat last year to Democrat Mary Robichaux, was seen in the crowd of Trump supporters. Price plans challenge Robichaux next year, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Price is married to Tom Price, who was forced to resign as secretary of Health and Human Services under Trump amid controversy his use of taxpayer-funded charter and military flights for travel. Tom Price has applied for the appointment to replace U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, who is resigning at the end of this year.
Marjorie Greene, a businesswoman from Milton who is running in the Republican primary for a chance to take on McBath next year, also attended.
On the other side of the street, local Democrats gathered for a “peaceful protest” to counter the Trump rally and to show support for McBath and for an impeachment investigation.
“We didn’t want their protest to go unanswered,” said Sheila Levy of Dunwoody, “and wanted to make sure that they fully understand there is a lot of support in the 6th District for [McBath].”
Democrat supporters held signs that said, “I Love Lucy” and “Country Over Party.” They also sang “God Bless America.”
There were also shouts of “shame on you!” to those on the Republican side of the street.
“The current president has indicted himself, not only by his actions, but by his words,” said Ben Myers, 6th Congressional District Chair for the Fulton County Democrats.
A shofar, a ram’s horn used in Jewish religious ceremonies, was tucked into the back pocket of Leah Fuhr’s blue jeans, and she wore a veil around her shoulders. The protest coincided with Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the year in Judaism.
“What we’re advocating for here is atonement and our president needs to atone,” said Fuhr, a Sandy Springs resident.
“We have got to put our country back on track,” she said. “So rather than praying and singing in synagogue, I’m here praying with my feet … and hoping he gets impeached.”
